Canadian Ismaili Student Wins Two Prestigious Scholarships

Local student awarded prestigious scholarship
The Brampton Guardian
Tuesday June 12 2007
BY ROGER BELGRAVE, Staff Writer

BRAMPTON – Teenager Salina Kanji has been helping out in her community since she was in Grade 2 and that passion for volunteering has been recognized by one of the country’s most prestigious scholarship foundations.

The Turner Fenton Secondary School Student is one of 20 people selected from across the country to receive the TD Canada Trust 2007 Community Leadership Scholarship.

The scholarship program celebrates community leadership as well as academic excellence. Graduating high school students must demonstrate outstanding leadership in their communities, while maintaining at least a 75 per cent academic grade average.

There were 3,800 applicants from across the country for the 20 awards presented this year. The scholarships are worth $60,000 each. Winners receive full post-secondary tuition, $5,000 a year towards living expenses and an offer of summer employment at TD Canada Trust for up to four years.

Kanji’s high school career has been characterized by community activism. In Grade 9 she turned a civics class project into a grassroots multicultural organization called Education for All, Discrimination for None. The organization was largely aimed at shattering the stereotypes that still exist in society.

“There was (racial) tolerance, but not as much understanding,” the high school freshman had noticed.

The group organized a large multicultural benefit concert in Mississauga to raise money for UNESCO (United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

The 17-year-old has been volunteering at her local mosque since she was 7-years-old. “I’ve developed a love for volunteering,” she said.

She has held several community raffles and is now planning a conference.

At school, she headed the Culturefest event that showcases the community’s vibrant multiculturalism. Kanji still made time to serve as student council vice-president, act as president of the political discussion club, organize leadership conferences, take an active interest in robotics, play on the school’s Reach for the Top team and swim.

Kanji believes all students should seize the opportunity to volunteer. It is about self-improvement as much as making the community better, the teenager explained.

Helping make significant change in the community and seeing that change take place is a very rewarding experience. “To be able to help somebody in any way possible even when you’re young is very rewarding,” said Kanji.

It is exciting and a distinct honour to win one of the country’s most prestigious scholarship awards, she noted. There are thousands of applicants from across the country, doing some amazing and worthy things in their communities, she suggested.

Last summer, Kanji worked full-time trying to earn money for university. This award offers some financial security for her education. “This is an extremely large help.”

She plans to enter the health sciences program at the University of Western next year and hopes to pursue a career in medicine. “It’s a great way to be able to help other people,” Kanji said.

Someday she wants to be part of Doctors Without Borders, the international organization that allows physicians to serve underprivileged communities all over the world.

A panel of prominent Canadian senators, business professionals and past award recipients selected scholarship recipients.

The scholarship is open to all students in their final year of high school planning to attend a post-secondary institution the following year.

http://www.northpeel.com/brampton/lifestyle/article/26650

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